Fitness in absentia

While many recent studies have shown that we are a fitness-friendly generation, there’s a strange trend  hidden in this fact! That of people signing up for fitness but not following though! The unused gym memberships in the city will surprise you. People in the city are enrolling in gyms but aren’t serious about it and only go once/twice a month! The tongue-in-cheek trend is quite prevalent among youngsters in the city. We talk to a few gym instructors to get a little perspective on why the trend of signing up for fitness classes but not following through, is taking place on a large scale in the city.

According to Sanket Nayak, Hyper Monkey Fitness who likes to innovate when it comes to exercising to keep it interesting, it’s mainly because youngsters find the process of working out, difficult to sustain!

“A lot of people get motivated to join and hence sign up for these classes. But what they don’t realise is that it takes time for the results to be noticeable. Rigorous and consistent training is difficult and people don’t understand it when they sign up. Another thing people do is sign up to be a part of a selected social circle and instead look at gyms and fitness centres as a space for networking and in order to be seen by ‘the right people’,” the instructor says.

Agreeing with Sanket, Shwetambari Shetty, a zumba instructor from the city feels that consistency is key. “Youngsters these days lack self motivation, but want to be healthy and fit at the same time. Admittedly, going to the gym alone is quite boring so they need to find a space that is more fun and exciting and breaks monotony,” quips the trainer. “That’s why it’s important to find a programme that suits them and they find fun, so they are motivated to work out as well.”

And how does one get rid of the lethargy in order to reach their fitness goals? “Once they inculcate a particular pattern, a sort of addiction is formed after which they can start trying out new forms of exercise to keep their interests high,” Shwetambari adds conclusively.

 Lethargy and lack of energy, is seemingly the cause for which youngsters skip their workout sessions. One such corporate employee Aishwarya Prabhu, who has signed up for a yoga class and hasn’t followed through, opines “At the end of the day, my energy level is zero. Adding to that, most places offer flexible timings which sort of trick me into believing that even if I do miss a day’s class, I can make up for it any time on any day! It really is a vicious cycle and does indeed tempt me into slacking off.”

So what does she think will help? “Trainers need to be a little rigid about classes. That way, people will think twice about missing them. The fact that things are so convenient today is truly a barrier sometimes,” the 23-year-old adds.